Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Note: I originally posted this review after watching the first two episodes. It never appeared for some mysterious reason, so I am resubmitting it after now having also watched the third episode. This is a shocking abomination. Tolkien's pre-existing characters are treated with zero respect, and do not act in any way how they did in either the original text nor the Peter Jackson movies. The new characters are dull and uninteresting so far, two dimensional at best in all cases. All characters speak in either modern fashion or in accents that are not appropriate to Tolkien's universe. Even the score, despite being created by the usually excellent Bear McCreary, is bland and uninspired. Perhaps he felt phoning it in was appropriate for this absurd series? At least the music is better than what was used in the final trailer, though that is faint praise indeed. Most of the effects are good looking, as one would expect for a series that cost more than any other in history -- that said, a shocking amount of effects look very poor and unconvincing. The Warg effects at the end of Episode Three were especially awful and cheap looking. Very strange for such an expensive show. Costuming is odd, lacking the charm and authenticity that the Jackson films evoked. The hobbits are strangely filthy, and never seem to wash, which is out of character. Yes, I know they refuse to call them hobbits because of licensing issues, but that is what they are. Even the lighting is too pale and sterile in most scenes, lacking the warmth and organic feel of nature that Tolkien himself would have desired -- it comes across as a sanitized corporate product, with none of the soul that the original books and films achieved. The main character is unlikable to the extreme, and exceptionally unpleasant to nearly everyone she meets. This is very disrespectful to how she was originally written, and very off-putting. She is also far too short, as she should be very much taller than all of the humans and indeed quite a few elves as well. This is exactly the kind of awful mass produced-by-committee tripe that the author would have despised. It is astounding that anyone would pay so much to make something so awful and disrespectful of its source material. Avoid at all cost.